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Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?

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Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?

#281

Post by scsilver »

p0d wrote: post #105

My wife and kids. I'm 50 and re-evaluating friendships outside the home. I have realised that most of my friendships are not mutual. I stopped contacting most of my friends over 9 months ago and have not heard back from most for 6 months to never. My own family experience wasn't great. I now realise to have a wife who actively cares for you, looks out for you, is probably the most meaningful thing that can happen to…

This sounds like depression and distance more than all your friends being bad. Consider an alternative view that may not be filled with suspicion. Wouldnt you want your friends to offer you the same courtesy if you stopped reaching out. The pandemic has been hard on peoples social rythyms and cues and there are way less events to talka bout or meet up at.

Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?

#282

Post by sjg007 »

Nbox9 wrote: post #263
meken wrote: post #223

Getting a nice car. I’m prone to depression if I stay in the house too long. Having a nice car means when I roll out of bed in the morning, I’m able to head straight to a nice, comfortable, private, warm space and start listening to meaningful podcasts, audiobooks, get breakfast, head to the gym, and get a consistent good start on the day. I’m not sure if I can go back to city living at this point if it means giving…

In contrast I hate driving cars. I feel like it’s my least favorite tool. I have a nice car, I’ve driven even nicer cars in different styles and hated them all. Driving requires so much of my attention I feel like it’s invasive. In addition I feel like I have to sit relatively still and use my muscles in very particular way. It’s a trap for my mind in body, and an experience I don’t find pleasant. I am an American an…

I agree, I can't wait for autonomous vehicles. I actually want to walk to get in shape. I like to think about abstract problems so driving can be difficult in those situations as automatic as it is.

Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?

#283

Post by baron816 »

bacbilla wrote: post #193

Getting COVID. I've just turned 30 and I used to do a lot of cardio exercise. Over the past few years as other things have taken priority, I cut back. I'd try to do something every day but would often miss days and the workouts would be short and poor quality. After getting (fortunately mild) COVID I was worried about cardiac issues when I resumed exercise. I decided to buy an Apple Watch to monitor my heart rate and…

Sounds more like buying the Apple Watch was the contributor to you happiness. Had someone gifted it to you, might you have had the same outcome?

Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?

#285

Post by sweetheart »

csixty4 wrote: post #264

Transitioning my gender. Living my truth. Coming out to everyone in my life and being forced to confront the shame that held me back for decades. It took a lot of reflection and was cause for a lot of growth. But now I'm not only mentally happier, I'm taking better care of my body because it finally feels like it's my own.

Congrats! That’s amazing. I’m so happy for you.

Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?

#286

Post by giantg2 »

globular-toast wrote: post #154
alexander-litty wrote: post #103

Acknowledging the damage inflicted by an abusive past partner. I'm able to say "this is something that happened to me" and address it as such -- It isn't a thing I push to the back of my brain to deal with later, or an isolating trauma I'm afraid of losing friends over, or an overshadowing fixation I'm worried has changed me. It's in the front row now, being processed piece by piece. Over the past year I've been init…

I'm beginning to acknowledge my abuse too. I lost a lot of friends because the man is always blamed by default in any kind of conflict. Most men think women are not capable of abuse until it happens to them. And if it does happen it can take years to acknowledge what happened and pride kicks in so most men never talk about it which further contributes to the lack of awareness. Add to that the fact nobody truly cares…

It's especially sad that our societal views are so far off the data due to stereotyping.

According to some CDC studies, more men are victims of domestic abuse than women are. It's just that men do not report much of it, and there are more cases of severe injuries when it comes to women (40/60 split). I think one of those CDC studies even said that men are more likely to have a deadly weapon used against them in a domestic abuse situation than women are. A little shocking how different this is from the typical narrative.

Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?

#288

Post by qwerty1234599 »

DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #210
rococode wrote: post #40

Video walks on Youtube. If you haven't heard of them before, they're simple first-person videos where the filmer walks around some area with a stabilized video camera - no talking, just walking. I've really missed traveling and watching video walks while exercising has been a great way to satisfy that travel craving a bit and also trick my brain into experiencing some semblance of normalcy (not sure I could remember…

why not go out for a walk yourself? as somebody who spends a lot of time in nature it's hard to grasp how sitting more in front of a screen can improve the mood. or perhaps I got it wrong and OP isn't working in Tech and screen time actually means being not at work? not judging what makes you happy (that would be stupid on many levels) but genuinely wondering if you don't need the endorphines and flowing juices of at…

In lots of northern climates, going out for a walk during winter sucks. It's cold, dark and slippery. The winter landscape is cool to look at for a few days sure but after that it just becomes depressing.

Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?

#289

Post by tryptophan »

lsdddddd wrote: post #284

LSD without a doubt. It has lifted me from a depression, improved my relationships, a pure sense of joy in ans out. Feeling again connected with this world. I'm alive because of it.

Yeah LSD is wild. I feel like it changed me for the better too.

I can't decide if it was the drug though, or if it was just me all along being afraid to make changes and introspect myself.

Everything during the trip feels so profound, like all of your existence is at that moment. I think that element is key - realizing your past is just that - a past; but you exist NOW.

Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?

#290

Post by phreeza »

eskimobloood wrote: post #147

Buying a pen plotter last summer was one of the best decision for a while. As I start my journey into programming with generative art, using macromedia director and processing, I always wanted to be able to create my on physical prints. So for the last months I got back to have fun writing code in my spare time. Some examples: https://twitter.com/eskimobloood/status/1366300689652187140 https://twitter.com/eskimoblooo…

What is this ptpx process? Some kind of postcard exchange? Looks fun, is there more info somewhere?
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